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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Securing business
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Focus Special Travel Sports People Features Living Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters
REPRESENTATIVES of five US companies specialising in security industries were in Egypt last week looking for local partner, reports Niveen Wahish. Offering products such as sonar systems, surveillance equipment, intelligent fire alarms, detention hardware and specialised water protection equipment, the companies generated strong interest among Egyptian private sector companies that want to act as local agents or representatives for them."We see opportunities for our products in Egypt," said Michael Goodwyn, international marketing manager of Southern Steel, one of the companies represented for the first time in the matchmaking delegation. His company is the largest manufacturer of prison hardware in the world and holds the largest share of the US market. Now they are looking to increase their share of the world market by selling to Egypt and the Middle East.
Goodwyn said his company came to the Middle East to find out more about the market. "There is an increased need for prisons because of increased crime and drug related business. This caused increased demand around the world," Goodwyn said.
Business in Egypt is looking good not only for Southern Steel, but also for Simplex, another company in the delegation which provides, among other things, access control systems, early warning fire detection systems and closed circuit video. Martin Wykes, Middle East and Africa manager for Simplex, has been in Egypt several times, and in his opinion demand for security products was less in the past. "The idea of security in Egypt was limited to having a guard. In the past this was fine. Now people are looking for more sophisticated electronic types of security."
Cairo was the last stop for the matchmaking delegation. They already visited Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Partnership hurdles
EGYPTIAN and EU officials will be meeting next month for more discussions on the Egypt-EU Partnership Agreement which, contrary to everyone's expectations, was not signed during the Third Euro-Mediterranean Conference of foreign ministers held in Stuttgart, Germany, in mid-April. According to Ambassador Gamal Bayoumi, head of the Egypt-EU Partnership Unit at the Egyptian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, minor issues still have to be settled. "The signing of the agreement would have certainly crowned the conference, but unfortunately it did not happen," he said.However, representatives of both sides did hold meetings parallel to the conference to attempt to narrow the gap between them and review what has been achieved so far.
Bayoumi believes that among the subjects that need very few modifications is the agricultural issue. For example, Egypt will be required to give the EU equal treatment such as customs reductions for some EU agricultural exports. But this will only be symbolic because Egypt has already liberalised its agricultural sector, and agricultural imports are subject to very minor tariffs.
More negotiations will also be needed on the issue of free movement of individuals between Egypt and the EU. "We seek to guarantee that Egyptians who are legal residents and employed in the EU receive the same treatment as European nationals," he said. Bayoumi added that the process of granting visas to Egyptians also needs to be facilitated, especially for individuals expected to play an essential role in establishing a free trade area such as businessmen and investors. Moreover, scientists, trainees and members of families legally resident in the EU also should not have restrictions placed on their obtaining visas.
